Sanctuary
by Lady Kes
Summary: Tim needs an escape. Spoilers for 10x09, Devil's Trifecta.


Abby's lab was a sanctuary. Everyone knew it, on every level of NCIS, from the janitor to Director Vance. Her lab was a sanctuary for anyone who needed it, and right now, Tim really needed it. He couldn't take any more innuendo and insinuation, especially since he hadn't done anything to earn it. Even Ducky had said something! Granted, he'd said it with more tact than most of the other gossipers, but he'd still said something.

What was most frustrating about the whole situation was that he hadn't wanted to take Diane home in the first place. He really hadn't wanted to give her a hug. And he _definitely_ hadn't wanted to fall asleep on the couch with her! But she'd needed to talk, and he was too much of a gentleman to just leave her to her own devices, to let her get stuck in her own head the way he could tell she would have done if they hadn't talked it out. He hoped their discussion had helped her gain some perspective on Victor, on her life, maybe even on her relationships with Gibbs and Fornell. If he'd helped her, it had been worth it. But he wasn't sure he had. And right now, he really wasn't sure it was.

So he was looking for sanctuary, and he was hoping he could find it in Abby's lab. Her music was on, which at least indicated that the Mayan apocalypse hadn't come ten days early, and he walked in with a peace offering of a Caf-Pow.

"Brought you a refill, Abs," he said, since she was typing and clicking and otherwise engrossed in following electronic rabbit trails. As soon as she heard his voice, though, she hit a key to turn the music off, then whirled to face him.

"Timothy," she said, crossing her arms, and his heart sank. She'd heard the rumors, and she was clearly none too happy about them. Abby's jealousy about him was almost as legendary as she was. Sometimes he liked it. Okay, most of the time he liked it, because Abby was a gorgeous, wonderful woman and the idea that she'd be jealous over him was pretty ego-boosting. Right now, though, he had a feeling the ego-boost wasn't big enough to make this conversation worth it.

"Abs, I don't know what you've heard, but -" he tried to explain, but she cut him off with a raised hand and he sighed. This was going to be bad. Maybe he could just tell everyone he had Levodian flu or something and go home.

"I have heard very interesting things," she told him, still glaring at him, and he just waited to hear the worst. Knowing Abby's link to all the various levels of gossip, she was probably going to suggest he consider asking Diane for a paternity test.

"I have heard," she paused for dramatic effect, but he wished she'd just say it. "that you provided comfort and friendship to a woman who desperately needed it."

His jaw dropped at that, and he sputtered at Abby's now entirely friendly face, "I - you - what?"

"Oh, c'mon, Timothy," she said in what he privately called her "silly old bear" voice. "I know you didn't sleep with her. Everyone who thinks about it for even half a second knows that you'd never sleep with her. Or she'd never sleep with you, whichever way it went."

He wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, and he frowned a little as he considered that, then he hazarded a comment, "Sooo, you're not jealous?"

"Tim, you are one of the kindest, most honorable men I've ever met," she assured him, wrapping him in a warm hug, the kind of hug he wanted to sink into and never ever have to leave. "Diane needed a friend, and you are really good at being a friend."

She pulled back a little and kissed his cheek, then wiped the lipstick off.

"The only thing I'm jealous about is that she got to spend a night wrapped in your arms and I didn't," she teased him, and he could feel his ears turning red. He wasn't sure what to say to that, but fortunately he didn't have to say anything because she was dragging him back to the computer.

"Now, c'mon. We have a money laundering scheme to unravel."

Abby's lab was a sanctuary, and he intended to stay there as long as the world would let him.


End file.
